Please get the "that's what she said" out of your system by the time you've read the photo caption.

Mine's only this dark if I use sauce from the jar.

I wasn't being submissive when I asked, "Is there anything you're craving or any ingredient you'd like?" I really just wanted a springboard for menu ideas. Sometimes all it takes is a mention of a certain food or ingredient or flavor, "I'm craving...pasta/black pepper." and I can then plan a whole meal. And I was expecting an answer along the lines of "Something with...chicken/basil/lemons from your tree/a balsamic reduction/homestyle brown gravy." or "No Mexican food, I just had that last night." Or "Nothing...too spicy/with onions/that won't go well with beer/with meat." Nor was I fishing for my favorite answer: "I just want Val cooking."

Thinking about this blog, I realize that I haven't written about cooking. But it is something I do. Or did. Maybe starting to do again. Maybe I'm still good at it. I eat in restaurants a lot and I usually want the food I cook to be restaurant quality. Sometimes I invent, but I usually at least start out with a recipe. Usually I end up altering it. I read it and sort of imagine how it will taste. More often than not, an ingredient not mentioned in the original recipe will suggest itself and I'll add it. Or an ingredient mentioned in the original recipe seems out of place or just plain contradictory of the other flavors.

My favorite recipes are complicated, with many steps. I like getting everything out and doing mise-en-place. Cooking is one area of my life in which I prefer to work from a plan and to stay organized through the whole process. But, as I've said, my favorites are complicated and I like it when there's a little rush and stress and something that has to happen at a certain time for the whole thing to come together. Or a step that needs utter concentration - toasting sesame seeds in a pan, for example. I like using gadgets and every dish in the house and I like cleaning as I go. Keeping that area clean is a priority.

The front door opens into the kitchen in my house and when people come to eat here, I always want them to smell, first thing, that something is cooking for them and know from the aromas, and not from a pile of dirty dishes and vegetable peels, that I put some care into the preparation. Like a writer who keeps her/his readers in mind when he/she writes, trying to keep them reading to the end, when I cook, I imagine my eaters. And if they suggest a flavor or ingredient or "that thing you made for the St. Patrick's Day party" or even an official dish with a name, like mole poblano I always hope they like the flavors I've made enough to keep eating until it's gone.